For Immediate Release
January 21, 2009

ONTARIO GROWS NEW MARKET FROM INDUSTRIAL HEMP

International Group To Invest In Ontario Company

NEWS

Ontario will be home to the first North American commercial bio-processing plant for industrial hemp.

Ontario’s Stonehedge Bio-Resources Inc. announced today it will receive a $2-million investment by a group of investors from the United Kingdom. Starting in spring 2009, Stonehedge expects to build a new bio-refining facility in eastern Ontario that will employ up to 27 people by 2011. The company expects to produce more than $17 million per year in renewable hemp fibre, wood-like chips, and pellets, as well as matting and seed products.

Ontario, through the Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA) and the Eastern Lake Ontario Regional Innovation Network (ELORIN), has been providing Stonehedge with advice, expertise and support in building international partnerships. In 2007, Stonehedge participated on an Ontario-led trade mission to France that led to the introduction to Lime Technology Ltd., one of the companies that will invest $1.5 million in Stonehedge’s industrial hemp bio-processing plant.

QUOTES

“Ontario is proud to support innovative companies that are turning good ideas into good jobs. Today’s investment is a clear sign that our entrepreneurs and researchers are on the right track to developing and marketing globally competitive green technologies that will create good jobs for Ontario families,” said Minister of Research and Innovation John Wilkinson.

“Eastern Ontario has carved out a new economic sector that will support our communities in the 21st century. From research to high-technology bio-processing to farming, we’re very excited at the possibilities this project has to offer,” said Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi.

“Thanks to support from the Ontario government and ELORIN, Stonehedge has been able to attract international recognition and investment from leading UK companies. Industrial hemp is a blockbuster crop with a bright future – and Ontario provides Stonehedge with unique competitive advantages in both our research and our crop production,” said John Baker, President of Stonehedge.

QUICK FACTS

• Industrial hemp is used to produce Hemcrete, an environmentally friendly limestone building material similar to concrete.
• Stonehedge Bio-Resources Inc. expects to hire five employees in 2009 and 27 employees by 2011.
• The global renewable and bioproducts industry is expected to exceed $125 billion in revenues by the year 2010.

LEARN MORE

• Read about Stonehedge Bio-Resources Inc.
• Find out about Hemcrete.
• Find out about Ontario green energy projects.

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See also:

• Backgrounder: Building Ontario’s Green Economy While Tackling Climate Change
• Backgrounder: Support For Stonehedge Bio-resources Inc.

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Podcasts:

	Listen to Lou Rinaldi, Northumberland-Quinte West MPP
	Listen to Minister Wilkinson
	“Innovation is an incredible thing, and I think Ontario does it like nobody else.” Listen to John Baker, president & founder, Stonehedge Bio-Resources Inc.
	“The support I’ve seen here from the Province of Ontario is absolutely unprecedented.” Listen to Ian Pritchett, chairman and technical director, Lime Technology Ltd. Remarks made during event to announce that Ontario will be home to the first North American commercial bio-processing plant for industrial hemp.